Dove’s #ChangeTheRhyme Questions The Perception Of Beauty

August 12, 2016August 13, 2016 by NILAKSHI PATHAK

The first thing that we are made to learn after we have the understanding of words are the nursery rhymes. The retaining capacity of a child is very high and therefore we seldom forget about the things that we are taught in our childhood. Dove has cleverly and rightfully used one of the nursery rhymes to convey a very strong message to us.

Chubby cheeks, dimple chin,

Rosy lips, teeth within,

Curly hair, very fair,

Eyes are blue, lovely too,

Teacher’s pet, is that you?

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Are you familiar with this rhyme? If yes, then you are in for a rethinking. Dove has joined hands with ‘Blush’, the Culture Machine’s lifestyle channel to deliver a very powerful message with this simple rhyme. #ChangeTheRhyme ad features women who are beautiful in every way except the way beauty has been portrayed in the rhyme and obviously in our society. The ad forces us to think the meaning of the beauty that has been taught to us since a long period of time.

Blush has revealed the reason behind the creation of the ad. The digital channel Blush said, “Every woman is a hero who needs to unleash her inner fighter to win over the world. Through this video, we aspire to break up the monopoly that ‘light’ skin, ‘coloured’ eyes, ‘lustrous’ hair etc. are supposed to have our sense of value. in multiple cultures, dark skin, for instance, is considered as beauty; arch-nemesis, something that must be repressed and stunted at all costs. What’s disturbing is, all of these adjectives have been ingrained in our minds since childhood with the nursery rhymes we are being taught in the schools. the video was created because it is high time our society realised their faults in defining a woman’s standard.“

You need to watch the video first before we carry out further discussion on this topic. And don’t forget to notice the rackety ‘No’ at the end of the #ChangeTheRhyme video.

We live in a world, where we have been repeatedly told a beautiful girl is the one who has fair skin, big eyes, slim figure and what not. ‘Is that you?’ ad is like a refreshing breath of air which was much needed to break the pre-defined norms of beauty. Let’s not the society define the meaning of beauty for you. The only thing that you need to know is that you are beautiful. #ChangeTheRhyme has rightly questioned us “Is there only one definition of beauty?”

You can read more about the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty in the official website of Dove.